How Gilbert DiedBy A. B. (“Banjo”) Paterson
Listen to the complete poem, one part at a time. What happens, and what picture do the words help you make?Listen to every part. What happens? What picture do the words make?
Listen to the complete poem, one part at a time. What happens, and what picture do the words help you make?Listen to every part. What happens? What picture do the words make?
DO Read all fifteen parts in source order before beginning the second reading.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
Teacher preparation: the original includes racist historical wording, swearing and a fatal shooting. Read calmly; frame those words critically rather than adopting them, and do not reenact the violence. The poem’s account is not verified history.
The fifteen six-line teaching parts preserve ninety original lines; they are not fifteen original printed stanzas. The selected edition has thirteen blank-separated groups.
There's never a stone at the 's head,
There's never a fence beside,
And the wandering on the grave may
Unnoticed and undenied,
But the smallest child on the
Can tell you how Gilbert died.
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
The animals may tread on the grave: possibility, not an observed event. The all-child claim is the narrator’s broad representation, not a verified survey.
For he rode at , with his Dunn
To the hut at the Stockman's Ford,
In the light of the sinking sun
They peered with a fierce .
They were outlaws both — and on each man's head
Was a thousand pounds .
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
The original gives a historical money amount; do not replace its wording. Keep narrator information distinct from checked historical biography.
They had of the country round,
And the came behind
With a black that like a human hound
In the and the ranges blind:
He could run the where a white man's eye
No sign of a track could find.
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
Prepare pupils for the original racist noun and the tracker/hound comparison. Refer respectfully to the Aboriginal tracker; examine the narrator’s wording rather than use it as a neutral label or invite pupils to imitate it.
He had hunted them out of the One Tree Hill
And over the Old Man Plain,
But they with a wild beast's skill,
And they made for the again.
Then away to the hut where their dwelt,
They rode with a loosened .
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
“Their grandsire” is a relationship in this poem’s account, not independently established family history. The animal-skill comparison shapes the portrayal of pursuit and escape.
And their grandsire gave them a bold:
'Come in and ,
No safer place does the country hold —
With the night must ,
And we'll drink success to the boys,
And to hell with the black police.'
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
Read the quoted racial phrase and swearing in context without adopting that voice. The safety is a character’s promise, not a fact confirmed by the narrator.
But they went to death when they entered there,
In the hut at the Stockman's Ford,
For their grandsire's words were as as —
They were to the .
He had them both to the black police
For the sake of the big reward.
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
The hanging image foreshadows doom; Gilbert is later shot, not hanged. The narrator directly attributes the sale for reward to the old man.
In the depth of night there are forms that
As as creep,
And around the hut where the outlaws hide
They in the shadows deep,
And they wait till the first faint flush of dawn
Shall waken their from sleep.
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
Do not present the animal comparisons as literal identities. They position the outlaws as hunted and the approaching figures as threatening.
But Gilbert wakes while the night is dark —
A sleeper, ,
He has heard the sound of a sheep-dog's bark,
And his horse's warning ,
And he says to his mate, 'There are ,
And it's time that we went away.'
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
“Hawks abroad” is Gilbert’s metaphorical warning. Do not say actual hawks are firing guns or that the warning guarantees an escape.
Their rifles stood at the head,
Their lay ,
They wakened the old man out of his bed,
When they heard the sharp command:
'In the name of the Queen ,
Now, Dunn and Gilbert, !'
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
Here “arms” means weapons, not body parts. The Queen is invoked as authority in a character’s command, rather than appearing at the hut.
Then Gilbert reached for his
That close at his hand he kept,
He pointed it straight at the voice and ,
But never a flash ,
For the water ran from the rifle —
It was while the outlaws slept.
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
Do not turn an inference about sabotage into a stated fact: who wetted the rifle is not explicitly named. Avoid demonstrating a weapon’s operation.
Then he dropped the with a bitter ,
And he turned to his comrade Dunn:
',' he said, 'we are dead men both,
But there may be a chance for one;
I'll stop and I'll fight with the pistol here,
You and run.'
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
“We are dead men both” is Gilbert’s fear or prediction, not proof that both die in the poem. Explain the choice and its cost without offering violence as advice.
So Dunn out on his hands and knees
In the dim, light,
And he made his way to a patch of trees,
And among the night,
And the trackers hunted his tracks all day,
But they never could .
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
This passage gives an immediate escape only. It does not describe Dunn’s later life or prove that he was never caught afterwards.
But Gilbert walked from the open door
In a style and ;
He heard at his side the rifles roar,
And he heard the bullets crash.
But he laughed as he lifted his pistol-hand,
And he fired at the .
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
Keep the narrator’s “rash” beside “confident”. No role play or acted gunfight is needed; read calmly and discuss the words.
Then out of the shadows the aimed
At his voice and the pistol sound,
With the rifle flashes the darkness ,
He and spun around,
And they his body with rifle balls
As it lay on the blood-soaked ground.
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
Prepare for the graphic original lines. Keep the description factual and calm, without graphic amplification or celebration.
There's never a stone at the 's head,
There's never a fence beside,
And the wandering on the grave may
,
But the smallest child on the Watershed
Can tell you how Gilbert died.
DO Read all six original lines. Invite pupils to listen, join in or reread. Use underlined vocabulary and the optional interpretation only when useful.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
The repeated frame contrasts physical neglect and continuing remembrance. Its broad claim about every child is literary framing, not survey evidence.
There's never a stone at the sleeper's head,
There's never a fence beside,
And the wandering stock on the grave may tread
Unnoticed and undenied,
But the smallest child on the Watershed
Can tell you how Gilbert died.
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Repetition — “There’s never” repeats the absence of a memorial, making the neglected grave stand out.
Imagery — Stone, fence and wandering stock give a concrete picture of an unprotected grave.
Rhyme — Beside, undenied and died link the neglected grave to the death that the community is said to remember.
For he rode at dusk, with his comrade Dunn
To the hut at the Stockman's Ford,
In the waning light of the sinking sun
They peered with a fierce accord.
They were outlaws both — and on each man's head
Was a thousand pounds reward.
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Imagery — Dusk and the fading sun place the arrival at a time when the light is disappearing.
Alliteration — The repeated s sound joins “sinking” and “sun”, keeping the fading light together in the phrase.
Rhyme — Ford, accord and reward link the destination, the men’s shared purpose and the danger of a price on them.
They had taken toll of the country round,
And the troopers came behind
With a black that tracked like a human hound
In the scrub and the ranges blind:
He could run the trail where a white man's eye
No sign of a track could find.
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Simile — The narrator compares the tracker to a hound. The comparison stresses tracking skill but also reduces a person to an animal image, which we should question.
Rhyme — Behind, blind and find hold the pursuit and difficult tracking together through their matching sounds.
Imagery — The scrub and hidden tracks help readers picture how difficult the search is presented as being.
He had hunted them out of the One Tree Hill
And over the Old Man Plain,
But they wheeled their tracks with a wild beast's skill,
And they made for the range again.
Then away to the hut where their grandsire dwelt,
They rode with a loosened rein.
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Animal imagery — “A wild beast’s skill” associates the riders’ evasive movement with an animal’s ability to avoid capture.
Alliteration — The repeated w sound in wheeled and wild draws attention to the riders’ skilful change of direction.
Rhyme — Hill and skill connect the pursued country with the ability the riders use to evade capture.
And their grandsire gave them a greeting bold:
'Come in and rest in peace,
No safer place does the country hold —
With the night pursuit must cease,
And we'll drink success to the roving boys,
And to hell with the black police.'
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Direct speech — The old man’s own promise of rest and safety lets us hear the welcome that the next part will overturn.
Rhyme — Peace, cease and police give the promise of an end to pursuit a clear sound pattern, which the next part unsettles.
Alliteration — The two g sounds join the act of giving with the greeting, drawing attention to the welcome.
But they went to death when they entered there,
In the hut at the Stockman's Ford,
For their grandsire's words were as false as fair —
They were doomed to the hangman's cord.
He had sold them both to the black police
For the sake of the big reward.
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Contrast — False and fair set the welcome’s pleasing surface against its dishonest purpose.
Alliteration — The repeated f sound brings false and fair close together, sharpening the opposition.
Rhyme — Ford, cord and reward connect the promised shelter with threatened death and payment for betrayal.
In the depth of night there are forms that glide
As stealthy as serpents creep,
And around the hut where the outlaws hide
They plant in the shadows deep,
And they wait till the first faint flush of dawn
Shall waken their prey from sleep.
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Simile — The approaching figures are compared to creeping snakes, making their concealed movement feel threatening.
Metaphor — Calling the sleepers “prey” presents them as hunted creatures rather than people safely resting.
Imagery — The deep shadows and faint dawn make it easy to picture concealment around the hut.
But Gilbert wakes while the night is dark —
A restless sleeper, aye,
He has heard the sound of a sheep-dog's bark,
And his horse's warning neigh,
And he says to his mate, 'There are hawks abroad,
And it's time that we went away.'
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Metaphor — Gilbert uses hawks, hunting birds, as a warning about dangerous people nearby.
Onomatopoeia — Bark and neigh let readers hear animal calls that help Gilbert recognise danger.
Rhyme — Aye, neigh and away link Gilbert’s waking, the warning sound and his wish to leave.
Their rifles stood at the stretcher head,
Their bridles lay to hand,
They wakened the old man out of his bed,
When they heard the sharp command:
'In the name of the Queen lay down your arms,
Now, Dunn and Gilbert, stand!'
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Direct speech — The command names the Queen’s authority and directly addresses the two men, changing the scene into a confrontation.
Rhyme — Head and bed link the equipment kept near the sleepers with the old man’s sudden waking.
Imagery — Rifles at the bed and bridles close by show that the men have kept equipment within reach.
Then Gilbert reached for his rifle true
That close at his hand he kept,
He pointed it straight at the voice and drew,
But never a flash outleapt,
For the water ran from the rifle breech —
It was drenched while the outlaws slept.
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Contrast — The trusted “rifle true” contrasts with the missing flash: what Gilbert relies on does not work.
Imagery — Water running from the rifle gives a physical detail explaining why it fails, without naming who wetted it.
Rhyme — Kept, outleapt and slept connect the nearby weapon, its failure and the time when it became wet.
Then he dropped the piece with a bitter oath,
And he turned to his comrade Dunn:
'We are sold,' he said, 'we are dead men both,
But there may be a chance for one;
I'll stop and I'll fight with the pistol here,
You take to your heels and run.'
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Direct speech — We hear Gilbert’s offer directly, making the decision and its possible cost clear.
Contrast — “Dead men both” is set against “a chance for one”, showing a small possibility within Gilbert’s fear.
Rhyme — Dunn, one and run link the companion, the limited chance and the instruction to escape.
So Dunn crept out on his hands and knees
In the dim, half-dawning light,
And he made his way to a patch of trees,
And vanished among the night,
And the trackers hunted his tracks all day,
But they never could trace his flight.
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Imagery — Hands and knees, dim light and a patch of trees let us picture Dunn’s careful escape.
Alliteration — Trackers and tracks repeat the tr sound, focusing attention on the attempted pursuit.
Rhyme — Light, night and flight carry the escape through the fading darkness and into the failed search.
But Gilbert walked from the open door
In a confident style and rash;
He heard at his side the rifles roar,
And he heard the bullets crash.
But he laughed as he lifted his pistol-hand,
And he fired at the rifle flash.
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Sound imagery — Roar and crash make the gunfire forceful to hear, keeping the danger in Gilbert’s final action clear.
Rhyme — Rash, crash and flash connect the narrator’s warning about judgement with the gunfire Gilbert faces.
Repetition — The repeated “But” marks Gilbert’s action against both Dunn’s escape and the gunfire he hears.
Then out of the shadows the troopers aimed
At his voice and the pistol sound,
With the rifle flashes the darkness flamed,
He staggered and spun around,
And they riddled his body with rifle balls
As it lay on the blood-soaked ground.
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Imagery — Flashes lighting the darkness and Gilbert’s unsteady movement make the fatal encounter vivid.
Alliteration — Staggered and spun repeat the opening s sound, linking two sudden movements.
Rhyme — Sound, around and ground connect the troopers’ aiming with Gilbert’s movement and fall.
There's never a stone at the sleeper's head,
There's never a fence beside,
And the wandering stock on the grave may tread
Unnoticed and undenied,
But the smallest child on the Watershed
Can tell you how Gilbert died.
DO Reread this six-line part. Invite pupils to find an example before revealing it.
WORK Choose one device and discuss how the highlighted words affect sound, imagery or meaning.
RECORD Notice pupils’ explanations and the words they use as evidence.
FINISH Clear the highlights and invite another example or explanation.
CHECK A revealed example is shared teaching, not an independent assessment. The same words can illustrate more than one device. Keep the narrator’s view distinct from endorsement or verified history.
Refrain — The same six lines return after the death. Their words are unchanged, but we now know the story behind the grave.
Contrast — The missing stone and fence are set against the child who can tell the story, contrasting physical neglect with remembrance.
Imagery — The grave and wandering stock give the remembered story a concrete place to return to.
What happened? Which words helped you understand the events or the narrator’s view? What would you like to explore next?What happened? Which words helped? What should we explore next?
We can return to any part and connect our ideas to its words.We can reread a part and look for words that support an idea.
DO Invite open discussion after both complete readings. Return to source words to check ideas.
WORK Invite a natural oral response before revealing the shared interpretation or device. No written response is compulsory.
RECORD Notice understanding, questions and useful source words. Keep teacher-read listening and supported discussion distinct from unaided reading.
FINISH Close the drawer to return to the original lines before moving on.
CHECK A possible interpretation and revealed example are teaching resources, not proof that a pupil reached them independently.
Bridge to the separate Gilbert writing studio only in a later teaching phase. Do not choose an essay thesis inside this introduction or treat this supported discussion as independent assessment evidence.
Select a slide to see accompanying pedagogical notes and teaching tips.